


Triumph of the Skies

by hayleyisbored



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Friendship, It's A Wonderful Life AU, It's a Wonderful Life, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 19:06:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16980117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hayleyisbored/pseuds/hayleyisbored
Summary: "If the moon isn't in the sky, it can't hurt you. I'll do it for you, Remus."(It's a Wonderful Life AU)





	Triumph of the Skies

**Author's Note:**

> I recently watched It's a Wonderful Life and I loved it so much that I wound up here, putting off writing the next chapter for my other fic. Based on the iconic _"I'll give you the moon, Mary."_ scene, just a little oneshot for the festive period! Enjoy!

The sky is in limbo. So is Remus.

The problem is he's caught between night and day; the moon is still visible in the early morning sky, its pale face defiantly staring down the golden rays of the sun as it chases away the cold night from Remus's bones, from his skin, his hair. Remus shakes his head vigorously once, not to dispel anything in particular but in a feeble attempt to return to himself, to regain some clarity. His mind is trying to cling to the wolf; he's unaware of the low whines emitting from his mouth at the ache of his body until Sirius turns back to frown at him in that way he does. Not angry, just concerned.

"It's alright, Moony - just a little bit further."

Sirius is coaxing him, guiding him from his two paces ahead, arms reaching out to grasp at Remus's stiff hands and chafe some warmth and life back into them with his own. Remus is so out of his mind he nearly says aloud how much Sirius reminds him of the sun, how much he's always longing for them both.

"This probably isn't a good idea after all." Remus says instead, trembling all the way down to his bare toes, feeling the dirt work its way beneath his toenails.

"We're nearly there!"

The idea had been spontaneous, an entirely reckless thing - the way it always is with Sirius. Remus had shivered his way back to his human body in the Shrieking Shack not fifteen minutes before and Sirius had been there waiting, first dog and then boy, throwing the dusty old cloak from beneath the floorboards across Remus's narrow shoulders, following it up with his arms for good measure.

They'd not said much, had barely spoken more than a handful of words, Remus sighing at the thought of the dawn happening just outside the boarded up windows. That had been it: Sirius was made officially determined. He'd pulled on the change of clothes Remus keeps in the Shack especially for these mornings after the full moon - maroon sleeves riding too short down his arms, the bottom of the trousers trying their best to reach his ankles - then declared that they were heading out just a little way away from the Shack to watch the rest of the sunrise.

If Remus had been in his normal coherent state, he's sure he might have argued on the matter though he's usually likely to give in when it comes to Sirius and that _face_ ; Sirius is all unruly curls and hard edged cheekbones and full pouty lips but it's the yearning expression and the sweet pleading that wins Remus over in the end, time and time again. As it turns out, Remus had very few qualms about this little trip on its initial suggestion, cheerfully allowing Sirius to half carry him down the stairs and illegally _Apparate_ them just outside of the lopsided structure, the both of them swaying just as unsteadily as the creaking Shack behind them.

That's how they found themselves outside on a brisk December morning, wearing too little clothing and no shoes and hiking the short distance from the Shack towards the cluster of trees nearby, a safe shelter to observe without being _observed_ , scraping knees and bruising elbows as they slip their way up the grassy slope.

Remus is starting to regret all of that now. He watches the faint shimmer of the invisibility cloak - James's generous loan to Sirius for the week and their ticket back through Hogsmeade to the Honeydukes tunnel - spilling out from the back of Sirius's trousers, fighting the desire to grab hold and use it to tow himself up the last stretch of hill.

"You're almost done - almost there!" Sirius pants, repeating it like a mantra for his own benefit as well as Remus's before finally collapsing in a sprawling heap of limbs on the floor, heedless of the twigs and leaves resting there themselves.

Remus follows suit - _"Ooof!"_ \- leaning heavily against Sirius's side and finding himself sinking a little closer just to feel the heat radiating from him.

"See? Not so bad now we're here, is it?"

"No - no, it's not. I'm positive we look ridiculous though."

"Well, it's a good job no one is here to see us then." Sirius quips back, purposely jostling into Remus's shoulder, barking out his short, little laugh at the look on Remus's face. "We're here for the sunrise, remember? Look - "

Together, they stare out beyond the Shrieking Shack and over Hogsmeade, turning their faces away from the small village and up at the orange stained sky instead, marvelling at the pink clouds spreading like paint thinned with too much water over a canvas. There's so much colour that Remus wishes he could dip his fingers into it, mix them all up and smear new ones into the picture with his fingertips alone. To create whole new sunrises over and over again.

Remus turns, wanting to say all of this to Sirius, the words half formed in his throat but they die before his lips can push them into existence. Sirius is squinting up into the dawn, his face as awash with orange as the world around them, ruddy cheeks glowing. He looks as bright and clear as the morning itself.

"I'm going to leave," he states with such conviction that Remus can hardly doubt its inevitability even though he has no idea what Sirius is talking about. 

"Leave where?"

"I'm gonna leave Grimmauld Place."

"That's a big decision." Remus tells him slowly, treading lightly as he always does when Sirius mentions his family. "Is that definitely what you want?"

Sirius makes a face like he's in pain, shaking it off in the next second. Remus has never been one for spontaneity. He's never been able to wrap his head around deciding to do something and then actually _doing_ it, it's in his nature to approach everything with hesitancy. Even knowing the hell Sirius suffers through his family, even knowing the sort of people that they are - Remus is cautious, he can't help it. Today is a rare occurrence, they both know that much. 

"Absolutely sure. One hundred percent sure. So sure I would bet my leather jacket on it."

"I take it you're certain then," Remus jokes weakly. He gives that up quickly enough, returns to the comfort of his solemnity. "When are you going to leave?"

"I dunno - today, tomorrow, this summer. Soon." Sirius stretches, the seams on the jumper straining in protest. "Either way, I'm going to get all my stuff and then I'm never stepping foot in that shitty old house again."

"But where are you going to go?" Remus probes, folding himself up into a ball to ward off the cold, flexing his toes against the grass. He feels younger than his fifteen years but Sirius, born mere months before him and recently turned sixteen, seems far older. "What will you do?"

"Probably the Potter's, to begin with. James said I could stay with him if things ever got - if they got bad. But after that? Merlin, anywhere - _everywhere_. All the places I feel like going. Just to be able to walk the streets in London or Diagon Alley or - or - just exist knowing I can go anywhere besides that house stuffed to its rafters with dark magic and my stinking family."

"I'm gonna see whatever I can, Moony, I'm gonna do it all. I'll go to Romania and see the dragons, I'll visit you in Wales and we can camp out in the fields and I'll tell you every constellation I know and we'll watch the sun come up every time, whenever we want." Sirius is alight with possibilities, his stream of words blowing into one another amidst foggy breaths. "I'm going to put them all behind me and never look back. I'm going to live my damn life like I've never seen anything before and look at everything twice just to make sure."

All the while as Sirius speaks, Remus can feel the prickle of tears slowly filling his eyes, the quivering heat of them threatening to spill over and expose him at any moment. Remus can't even put his finger on what exactly it is that is making him feel this way, some prodigious thing that stirs together every overwhelming emotion he's ever had for Sirius and forces him to acknowledge the differences between them, to convince himself that he'll never be good enough - he'll never be _enough_ \- for Sirius because he'll never feel unbroken.

As long as the moon hangs above them, Remus will always be faced with that dark thought and the what if's. What if he hadn't been bitten as a child? What if he had the courage to tell Sirius all the things he loves about him? Worse still, what if he never could? _What if, what if, what if._

One blink and all those unshed tears will announce themselves. Remus will come undone.

He can't stand it. He can't stand being a coward, he can't stand the moon or the animal lurking deep within him, and he especially can't stand the Shrieking Shack with its cold rooms and gloomy corners and its beat up furniture.

He's so moved by the sudden flare up of rage that he takes up the nearest rock, rises gingerly to his feet and hurls it with everything he has toward the windows of the Shack, surprised to find that his aim is true and that he can hear the clatter of it striking off the boards with no real damage.

Sirius gawps at Remus in astonishment, shock colouring his voice. "Why'd you do that?!"

Remus feels the wobble in his lip so he clamps his mouth shut tight and shakes his head. If he tries to speak now, he's done for.

"Remus? Hey, don't be sad. Tell me - tell me why you threw that rock?"

"I - I - " Remus gasps, escaped hot tears cooling rapidly on his cheeks. "I wish I could change it - everything - being me - being a werewolf. I hate the sight of that fucking moon so much I could - I wish I could - "

Sirius glances up, a quick flick of his eyes and back to Remus's face again but Remus knows the moon is still up there, taunting them with its refusal to fade away.

"What can I do to make it better?" 

Remus is all despair; a heaving sob works its way from his chest. "Nothing - there's nothing. Nothing can be done!"

"There's always something. Hey, I got an idea - you want me to pull down the moon for you? You want me to cast a spell on it? I'll pull it down here to earth and shrink it so small that it'll fit right into your hand - right here," Sirius says, grabbing at Remus's hand to trace the lifeline along his palm with a gentle finger. "If the moon isn't in the sky, it can't hurt you. I'll do it for you, Remus."

It's all nonsense, of course. All make believe, something that only children are supposed to delight at but Remus drinks up every word of it. Sirius always knows exactly what Remus needs to hear.

Remus sniffles, dabbing at his face with the sleeve of his cloak. "Sure, I'll take it. What should I do with it?"

"Whatever you want! You can - can - " Sirius gnaws at his bottom lip, thinking hard. His eyes light up with inspiration. "You can grind it up into sparkling moon dust if you wanted, and throw it over yourself like confetti and - and - shake it all loose from your hands, watch the specks blow away in the wind and up toward the stars. Just say the word and it's yours."

Remus laughs, "Like confetti?!" 

Sirius smiles a small smile, uncommonly shy. "Too much?"

"No, no it's perfect." Remus says quickly, still laughing, rushing to assuage Sirius's embarrassment."I'll do that, Sirius, thank you."

Sirius grins one more time, casting a contemplative look at the lightening sky. Before too long, Hogsmeade will be bustling with energy; shopkeepers will be magicking open the shutters in their windows, innkeepers will be eagerly awaiting the hoards of Christmas shoppers to beckon into their pubs festooned with tinsel and baubles and mistletoe. Sirius and Remus need to make their way back to Hogwarts.

"We better get going, James and Peter will be wondering where I am." Sirius says, tugging the invisibility cloak from his trousers and shaking it out. "And Madam Pomfrey will be on the hunt for you."

"She's going to kill me." Remus groans, stepping forward so Sirius can toss the cloak over his head. "She'll think I walked back up to the castle on my own instead of waiting for her."

"Ah, Poppy is harmless - "

"You're not the one completely at her mercy! Just you wait, I'll be bound up in bandages I don't need just so she can punish me."

They're face to face beneath the cloak, the tips of their noses grazing one another for the sheer closeness of them. It had been easier when they were younger but now, they're too grown to fit under the cloak comfortably and without treading on each other's feet. Sirius's hot breath leaves Remus's chin and cheeks feeling sticky but he doesn't mind it, he doesn't even mind that neither of them have brushed their teeth yet.

"Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

Remus wants to say a lot of things: thank you for this, for being his friend, for never flinching at his crabby moods when he's near his cycle, for never failing to wait there in the Shrieking Shack for him regardless of the weather or the time or what the coming day may bring. For making him believe in impossible things, for being the reason why his heart pounds and skin flushes and his hands shake. For making him forget that he's a werewolf - for making him realise he's more than that.

For being one of the people Remus loves the most.

Instead, he says, "You mean more to me than any handful of moon dust."

"Oh yeah?" Sirius's voice sounds softer under the cloak. He sounds like he's telling Remus a secret. "I'm glad about that, Moony."

Sirius doesn't have to move much, a tilt of the head so his face slides a fraction nearer to press his lips to Remus's. The kiss is a small one but it's warm and genuine. Remus never dreamt it would or could be as easy as breathing. He recognises the gesture for what it is. 

It's fated, a sign of things to come when they're back in the castle, hopefully with feet safely ensconced in socks and preferably by a secluded fireside, bellies pleasantly full with tea and toast and mince pies. 

It's a promise of something _more_.


End file.
